<1619>

Durnit. So, I had made an inquiry on a car earlier this week, a 1995 Buick Riviera, because the guy who owns it is moving to Hawaii. I figure that the best and most honest deals are probably going to come from people who are only selling because they have to move far away. So then I made an appointment to look at it today, and then I tried to bail this morning because I felt like I was too disorganized to look at the car. But the guy came anyway because he hasn't gotten my email. So I drove it around, and it's really nice and handles great for a large coupe, and he just got it checked out and got the brakes replaced, and everything seems really good. He seemed genuinely sad that it would cost him $2000 to ship, because he likes the car so much. So now I'm like, dang, this could be a very good car for a good price, and if I just am wussy about buying, I might miss out. But it's also the first car I've even looked at, even though I have to say I liked it a lot more than the Stratus I drove last weekend. And it has every option imaginable... it must have been quite pricey when first purchased. I totally hate making decisions!

The boy was also cute. Heh.

<1433>

Okay, so the one thing that made me go completely WTF during the press conference last night was when Bush said that people should have a "right" to a personal savings account. Uh, I think there are a lot of other rights we should be granted before a friggin personal savings account. Like, I dunno, health care? Why don't we just leave people's investment to the market like we've done with most of health care? If people have enough money to put into one of these savings accounts, surely they can already go out and get one right now, right? Oh wait, you really mean you want the whole thing to be private, and this is just a bunch of bs. So don't go talking about rights.

<1759>

I would post links to all the disturbing things Republican politicians have been doing lately, but I have a five-pager to write for class, and this would take more pages. The latest thing is about Republicans rewriting Democratic amendments in grossly childish ways. You know, Dems just don't *do* this kind of crap, and between this and the nuclear option, and the threatening of judges, and the removal of three people in Denver from a public-funded Bush town meeting because of a bumper sticker, and on and on... these Republicans just don't have any respect at all for the rule of law and for anything that prevents them from obtaining absolute power. It's fucking scary. I just hope there's enough of a split off of sane people within that party to stop these things sooner than later.

<2356>

Urgh, paper done. It was way easier than the last one, but still annoying. And I procrastinated a bunch. I even watched the damn President. What a guy... he gives like no press conferences ever, so each one feels like some event I have to watch. Last time I distinctly recall wanting to beat him up from beginning to end. This time, if I closed my eyes and pretended not to know anything about his real agenda, he often sounded pretty good! Wow, that guy is not talking nonsense... I'm not sure if he's really saying anything, but at least it's not nonsense! But there's a lot of code for nonsense in there, and when he gets riled up, some of it comes out a little more obviously.

I was glad to hear what he said about religion and patriotism. Don't get me wrong: I don't think he really believes it, I think he said it out of political convenience given some of the backlash going around right now against the Christian right wacko takeover of various issues, and I think it's part of his whole scheme of saying one thing and getting Thug Karl to go around perpetuating another. But it was still nice to hear him say in prime time that people are no less patriotic for not being a Christian right wacko.

<1710>

Despite my annoyance with city driving, I'm still browsing for cars. Renting for the weekend worked out okay, even though it was more like $80 instead of $40 since I don't have car insurance, and thought maybe it would be nice to not get sued if I managed to hit someone. Then again, I don't have any assets, so I guess it's just an issue of social responsibility. Anyhoo, insurance being more than the rental itself is a little wack. Still, though, what do I do with a car? Go out and buy things. So, maybe I really still don't need a car.

I should do some work, but I really don't feel like it.

<2039>

This weekend was crazy fun times... didn't do a lick of work. Jenn got here early on Friday, so I got the car and went to the airport, and then we were off to class. Which set us off noting the influence of social norms all day. We went to my house, then to lunch at this new place near campus, and then went to get Jet from where he'd had work meetings. We went to Fells Point, parked, and wandered around, eventually going around the Harbor and then stopping for dinner. Back to the car, we pondered karaoke, but I didn't know of a place, so we had to go back to my house for some internet... but on the way home, everyone started feeling sleepy. Jenn had taken the red eye in, so she'd only slept like 4 plane hours, and the rest of us were just lazy. So we went to Wells for some booze, and then back to my house for some Mean Girls. Lindsay Lohan = delicious.

Saturday we all slept in late, and then we went to DC. I took Lynn's suggestion of parking at Greenbelt and taking the Metro in, which was wicked smart. We headed to the Mall, and since there are like no fast food places in Baltimore south of me, we were starving (can't eat on the Metro either). So we stopped at one of those Park Service shacks for some pricey shitty grub. I got pizza, beer, and an ice cream sandwich, meal of champions. Then we headed to the new Native American museum. As we approached, I pondered the need to have my purse open for the inevitable security... except I then noted the lack of purse on my back. I had my sweatshirt, which had distracted me from getting my purse. Le crap. So we rushed back, where lucky for me the purse was still hanging from the arm of the chair, completely undisturbed. It probably helped that all the chairs had this wire running through them so they couldn't be stolen, and the purse just kinda hung amongst them, obscuring it. I was relieved. Esp since I had just talked to Am that morning about her stolen wallet, and did not look forward to a similar mess.

So, we headed back to the museum. We saw most of it before the 5:30 closing... we got such a late start, and the museums close so damn early. It was pretty decent. It had been raining, but mostly stopped when we left the museum. We wandered over to Jefferson Memorial, which I didn't see in my one trip ten years ago. So that was cool. Then we cabbed it over to Dupont Circle for a real dinner, avoiding the Park shack. :-) It was tasty, and wandering around Dupont Cir was cool.

Back in B-more, we tried to go to this karaoke bar, but it had this jenky deal where you had to run up a $50 tab before karaoke was free, and besides, the place was super dead. So we drove around, stopped at the utterly weird statue garden on the Hopkins campus (not the BMA one, the one behind the stadium), and drove around some more. It was fun.

After a short nap, we got up (a bit late... Jenn's phone opted to vibrate instead of ring after it rang quite boldy when Orbitz auto-called at 3 to tell her the plane was on time), and went to the airport. Thanks to no traffic, we were no much later than planned. On my way back, I was grooving to the radio, and was almost home when an unfamiliar strain interrupted Love Stinks. Jenn's cellphone! I called Jet back, and they were already starting to board, and I was 20 minutes away, so I have to mail Jenn her phone (still, I was on campus all day today). I went back to sleep, and got up around noon).

More, after 24.

<2359>

So, anyway, then Sunday I went to White Marsh for some hot shopping action. First: Ikea. That is a weird place. Target is more relaxing in the sense of being white and fuzzy and not insanely crowded, whereas Ikea felt much more warehousy... and was waaaaaaay more crowded. But it's also got many pleasant aspects which reflect Swedish solidarity... the kiddy care area, the delicious meatballs and delightful cafe, the usefully located restrooms. It all sort of says, come hang out, buy some cheap stuff or maybe even splurge on some less cheap stuff. The cheap stuff is amazingly cheap, and some of it even looks and feels pretty good. Like, I bought a halogen lamp to replace my dead one with the irreplaceable light bulb, and it is just the best ever. $8. It puts off this great light that is actually very daylighty in some respects. I also bought curtains, which was my slight splurge, but once I get them up, I think I will like them tons. And they are super adjustable, so I didn't have to feel constrained by my lack of knowledge of the window dimensions. Anyway, Ikea = warehousy and crowded, but worthwhile.

Then I hit Old Navy for pants and shorts, and Famous Footwear for some new black Sketchers, this time with pink stripes! Very happy. After that I wandered to Best Buy, and then to Target. Ah, Target. I needed a bunch of basic bathroom/kitchen supplies, was tempted into bright turquoise cabana sheets, some of those chairs in a bag, and a blender. AND, I bought a 27" TV. I had this notion, without asking exactly, that the TV would fit in the TV cabinet at home. I didn't consider how it would fit in the car. The answer to that was: box removal, plop naked TV in front seat and pray that it wouldn't slide over and crush me when I turned. Which, it didn't. Fortunately Bill was home when I arrived, so I finagled him into removing it from the car and carrying it into the house for me. Where we quickly realized after a measurement that it was not going to fit in the TV stand. The width was okay, but the height was a no. So, he scrounged up a desk from the basement, I slid the old TV stand over, and voila! New big TV. Awesome.

So, I sort of felt like a dork that I had guests all weekend, and as soon as they left, I got a new lamp, shower curtain, and TV, AND I finally remembered to put out the huge pile of bottles and cans from the kitchen on the appropriate recycling day (only twice a month), so everything was actually much more pleasant post-guests. Oh well, I don't think they would have been immensely affected by the improvements.

Today I took the car back, and then I waited forever for someone to drive me to school. I shoulda just walked to the shuttle. Then I had to snag breakfast once I got there, cuz I didn't feel like getting up earlier today to get the car over and skipped breakfast, thinking I'd have more time than 5 minutes to get food at school. Lame. After that I did my reading, since I did zero homework this weekend, and then had lunch with Shivonne, who I haven't seen in a billion. Tonight I hung out again with Lynn and crew for 24, and the damn Tivo ate a few minutes of the show, but I don't think it was too tragic, and I skipped out on the previews for next week, woo!

Also, Chloe + huge gun = AWESOME.

<1830>

By the way... my paper abstract.

Must do tomorrow's reading (my advisor is guest lecturing), and then clean this house. And then maybe some more reading.

So I emailed my advisor to bug him about some stuff to do this summer. I'm working on a small project with him, and I have this internship to make some dough here and there, and I have some grantwriting, but it's all kinda sparse. So, he doesn't have any ongoing projects, but he promised to spread the word of my idleness. I got an email from the one prof whose class I have tomorrow, and she gave me the name of someone who has a project starting up. And, even better, she was pretty gushy about how happy she is with my work in her class so far (I'm prone to pipe up when people are being unresponsive, in my usual way of hating to see professors be sad when no one talks). So that's awesome.

Dreams too real... sometimes I don't think my brain is really trying.

<2317>

OMG! Band on the Daily Show! Rob Corddry was doing a piece on the "not maid, cleaning professional" service these Harvard kids started, and they had random shots of the Band interspersed amongst the funny. It was all pretty friggin hilarious.

<2059>

Is it just me, or has Seacrest gotten deliciously sassy this season?

<0706>

I seem to remember having mentioned to at least one person, persistently, that there had to be a better place for that stuff. I mean, come on.

<2307>

So I went with Lynn to her friend's house to watch 24. She called me like 5 minutes before, and I was like, gah, it's almost on! But her friend has Tivo, so it's all good! Tivo is da bomb. I managed to watch previews for next week, however, which may be good in that it reminds me why I don't watch previews!

So Jenn and Jet are coming at the end of the week, which should be fun. We're going to chill with Dave in DC, which should be cool. Then I'll have the rental car all of Sunday to do whatever I want! Which will probably be sleep, but we'll see. :-)

<2339>

I don't know why I even bother to be friendly when it's clear the other party could give a crap.

<1802>

Friday I came home after school, took a call with the old work crew briefly, putzed around, and then my exercise bike arrived. Craigslist treated me well this week. It's a pretty great little bike, though I need to develop some ass calluses. T called me shortly thereafter to see if I wanted to go see the doggie, so I went with her, but the SPCA was closed. So I hopped on the shuttle to go to happy hour. There was a decent HSR/SBS crew there, so we hung out a bit and then headed to Fell's Point. DuClaw is a newish place, and it was pretty good in terms of a brewery, with pretty generic food. Then we went to Max's, which is kind of like Sunset in Allston with its many many beers. I had a Bodenrach, which is a Flanders sour red ale: delicious. I stayed with Erin, since the other peeps were being OLD and left at 10:30. I knew she just broke up with her boyfriend a couple of weeks ago, so I figured that in addition to wanting to stay out a bit later myself, it might be wise to hang around. We drank a lot, and then grabbed a cab. Cabs here are way cheaper than Boston.

Yesterday I got up late, and then met up with Lynn for dinner and the Hopkin Symphony, which was pretty good. I think I'm going to end up going to this 24 group her friends do, which is cool. Eventually I'll make it to a physics happy hour.

Having got home at a reasonable hour, I watched a little SNL and slept. Got up at like 10:30, putzed, then went out to enjoy the sun and catch some lunch/dinner at Rocky Run. Basically I spent too much money this weekend, and I need to go grocery shopping, but eh. Whatever. The bank is not broken.

<2152>

Revs is a kickass NY graffiti artist turned underground sculptor... check out the slide show in addition to the article for more sculptures.

<2229>

I'm just looking for your deep regret.

<1847>

Am and I have had this problem of parallel blogtalk lately. A few days ago I wrote something about someone else that totally matched her life, and today she wrote about how her (former) boy doesn't read her blog and it partly ticks her off. Lemme just say, totally, and add that it hacks me off to no end that AFTER the productive conversation about this blog that promised to fix all the problems it was causing in the world, a certain someone someone NEVER reads it. Like, clearly active avoidance. Even people I haven't seen in 8 years occasionally check this thing out! Like, come on!

Boys are suck dumb.

So are papers. This one doesn't demand references and is only 5 pages, but it still annoys me. But speaking of TASPers, I stole this idea from a kid we interviewed.

<2107>

That paper really should not have been that painful, but I finished it and didn't even want to read over it, I hated it that much. Brargh. I'm feeling good about this class right now, though, because yesterday she kept asking for someone to chime in with details from the papers were were supposed to have read (we had to read like 1 of 3 and 3 of 12, to get a distribution), and I happen to have read most of the papers she wanted this for. She came up after class and thanked me for not leaving her hanging. What can I say, I just remember the details of things really well.

<2219>

Paper procrastination blocked me from going out tonight, and the weekend doens't work due to travel. I'm trying to work up caring about it, but really I emailed in the first place just because I felt like I should. I wish I could make distinctions in my apathy between apathy due to really just not having a connection and apathy because I warm up to people so darn slowly. In the past it's been slightly easier because I've been in a groups, and so slow warmup just means not really even noticing the person, but when actively trying to meet and get to know people, apathy sticks out a lot more and seems more problematic.

<1748>

Oh man, today has been so unproductive. I again went with T to the SPCA (she had been there also on Monday, silly girl), and we were there much longer than expected, as she found the bestest dog ever. If I had more space for a medium-sized dog, I woulda totally fought her for it. The dog is apparently some kind of chow mix, but was like a fluffy little bear, never once barked or acted like a spaz, and was generally chill and cute. So she filled out the paperwork, but there's a hold on the dog until a week has gone by for any owners to reclaim her.

After that we went to lunch up at Panera, which was delicious. It was nice to chat about people's various ticks, and to see that I'm not alone in occasionally feeling like I'm going to twitch out of my chair when people talk.

Since I got home, a whole lot of nothing.

I've been tempted to go to Boston at the end of the month, since I haven't been in forever. I could play for pre-frosh weekend, go to Springfest, see the kids. I dunno, prices aren't amazing, but they generally haven't been. I think I won't end up going... I'll procrastinate too long and prices will rise.

<2229>

Top Model: I was sad that Tyra ended up going ape on Tiffany. She only half deserved it, though I see where Tyra was coming from. Then again, someone on the TWoP boards made the point that if they really wanted to make models out of these girls, they would, like, help them. As opposed to dumping them in the midst of overwhelming challenges and ridiculous photo shoots. They'd also teach them how to read. Maybe they have full access to a library of fashion info and they're just inept and don't use it or learn it all... but I sort of doubt it. I bet they don't have internet or anything.

Idol: Come on, America, for serious. Get that fuckface Scott off my screen. He's a rotten thug, and I can't believe he's even been allowed to stay on.

<2227>

Yeah, screw you pigs: Video killed the police testimony star.

Okay, I'm sorry for that, I've had a little wine.

<0014>

Man, who ever though Green Day would be the band to last a dozen years?

I finally did get to see that E! THS on Jancie Dickinson. Man, that chick is AWESOME. Even though she's basically insane, she also kicks total ass.

<1913>

For some reason I have NKotB's "Step by Step" stuck in my head. WTF.

Dandy is here! He is so friggin adorable. He is also hiding out asleep under his bedding. Which surprised me for being this grey newspapery stuff, but apparently the new thing in hamsters is that cedar bedding is BAD because it's too rough and causes injuries, and also releases some sort of bad toxins when peed upon. So, I'll have to keep an eye out for this CareFresh stuff.

<2254>

I just wish you missed me a little.

<1101>

This is a brilliant article about the man date, straight men going to hang out together like for dinner. Straight men are so funny and cute and awkward.

<2152>

Oh, Sideways, so good!

<1612>

Hate switching back and forth from craigslistings to maps when searching for an apartment? Now with this you don't have to. Well, at least in major cities (i.e., not Baltimore).

Got one bite back out of three from the internship apps I sent out last night. So that's cool. And it seems that Dandy will probably be picked up on Sunday. T and I went to the SPCA today, even though I went last week, but apparently they get dogs out pretty quick, cuz most of them were new. The volunteer who we talked to told us that small dogs go especially quick... apparently they showed two little puppies on the 6:30 am news sometime this past week, and an hour before they opened there were already people waiting around to try to adopt them. That's nuts. Anyway, we got forms to become volunteers, because it would be nice and fun to chill with animals, even if we can't adopt them ourselves (I'm so bugging Bill, though to see if I can). After that T came to admire my apartment and then to head off to smack her man for being a pain. Heh.

Some boys are so bad like that, trying to flip it on you when they've been jerks until you're apologizing somehow.

I don't feel like doing shit right now.

<1739>

I want my own bobble-head doll.

<2035>

Okay, I don't understand lacrosse at all. I need a lacrosse fan to help me watch TV.

I should just go to the game, but I am lazy. And have had, uh, some beers.

<2116>

Craigslist is good for something! I will soon be the proud new mama of a grey dwarf hamster, for the price of free. Woot!

I really haven't done shit tonight... well, not totally true, I did do my online biostats quiz and apply to some internships at this one place. I wish the CDC internship was, like, not at the CDC. I don't really want to live in Atlanta for the summer. I'm just starting to like Baltimore!

<2225>

It smells like summer out.

Today was beautiful. Yesterday was too, but today was like the start of summer. Yesterday between classes I went to read outside by Outpatient, and then I wandered back up and hopped on the shuttle after printing some stuff out. Jared was on the shuttle with his lab crew, and he was trying to encourage them all to play frisbee and saying I should come play too. Which I found extra ironic today when Sarah told me she'd been up with him all night because he got his feet taken out from under him and cracked his head and had a big ol' concussion. Anyhoo, I went and sat around the monument, and there was piano music coming out of Peabody and it all was glorious. After class we went to XS for some dinner, and then I went with a couple of the girls to Brewer's, where we decompressed about how we want to do cool stuff but seemed hemmed in by feasibility.

Today I only had class until noon. I came home for a couple of hours to sort of nap and internet. Then I went out to campus and did some reading before happy hour, when I headed back to the exact same places as yesterday, amusingly. I really wanted sushi, which I didn't get yesterday because we got rolls, so I went to XS, and then I hit Brewer's for a beer, since they're so cheap during happy hour and I could chill on the couch there.

Now I have the window open because it is still beautiful out. I am tempted by an offer to go hang out, but not really.

<1907>

Daylight savings is great, but totally freaks me out at first... how can it be after 7 already? It's still light out!

The squabbling on the list today remind me about the PSLM and the seemingly alike reaction their activism promoted in many students. How does such a reaction happen, given that I think most students were all for people getting paid a decent wage? Likewise, people are happy with divestment in PetroChina, but are irked by the student activists behind the issue. My coursework this year in community-based participatory research is really helpful in considering these student reactions, and how the messages of these groups could more effectively get students on board without alienating them. A message will only sound genuine if it matches what that group of people should reasonably care about and what their audience should care about. A bunch of middle-to-upper class white kids may care a lot about the wages of Harvard workers, but it sounds a lot more genuine for the workers to speak for themselves, since their wages affect them. You cannot speak for anyone else and expect people not to look for the self-serving part of the motivation. It would have been more genuine for those kids to say, look, we want to be part of a community that values every member, and we think that you student/administrator people love Harvard and want it to be that kind of community also. If this is the kind of community we want, this is the policy that reasonably follows. Instead, the message seemed very much more like, we're a bunch of kids speaking for these poor people. Bad Harvard! And it just didn't resonate with most students, and it seemed like a nuisance.

I can't comment much about this current divestment issue because I'm not on campus, but I get a sense that a lot of the same dynamic is being played out. If you really were to get a sense of students' values on the matter, you would find that they have a hard time really getting totally mentally involved with the issue of genocide because it is happening far away to people they don't see as terribly like them. But they do feel, however, that they want to be part of a community that strongly supports human rights and that is not engaged in any way with entities that support genocide. They care most strongly about their community. So, an effective message, a way to get everyone to participate, is to say, look, this is a vision we all have for our community, and this is the reasonable policy that follows from that vision. And we'll be persistent about making sure this vision is realized. Instead, a lot of these issues jump to a confrontative stage. Bad Harvard! Bad apathetic students! And so people feel confronted, and therefore, defensive. It's much better to assume up front people will be on board with you, because they are good people who want to live in a community with good values. And you get them on board from there.

<2003>

In much less important issues, I could have sworn E! True Hollywood Story was supposed to be Janice Dickinson tonight. I even wrote it on my calendar! Now it just has the Saturday date! Booo! Instead it's the Hilton sisters! Lame!

<0128>

I don't really know what it's an ad for, and I don't really want to click, but I'm really disturbed by what seems to be a bouncing, gyrating contraceptive sponge pimping some kind of product on, like, every website I visit. The sponge with eyes is apparently called Sweety, but I really don't want to click and endorse this sort of thing on my screen. I want to make it stop.

<2004>

It is ugly nasty windy outside. I need to go grocery shopping, but I didn't want to go out in the crappy weather today, so I'll come back between classes tomorrow. I hate bad weather.

<0119>

I figured I'd poke at the CV some, just try and dump stuff in it to be cleaned later. But then a couple of hours went by, and it's basically done. It's way better than my old resume. I was inspired by the verb list, and by shortening things into pithy little statement. So now I just have to write a cover letter (or two, if I apply to both internships... I'm trying to decide if I have "experience" in qualitative data analysis, or just "acquaintance").

<1625>

Adios, El Papa.

<2021>

It's been raining like crazy all day. It's supposed to rain more tomorrow. But the week should be sunny, of course. :p

There's a party I could go to tonight, but I don't know what proportion of the people I'll know there. This is a key issue. Earlier in the day, I felt like I didn't want to go out tonight (esp with the crappy weather), but now I'm feeling more social. I would have sent an email if I'd felt social earlier. Now it's like 8:30!

<2327>

Man, last week's games were so hot, and these two tonight were like not close at the end. Lame.

I get an unnatural kick out of seeing the DirectTV guide skip from 1:30 to 3 pm. One time I observed my phone at the switch, but it actually won't change until you turn it off and on again.

I also get a kick out of these kids who think I still post to hubba. Har!

<2301>

I remember my dad telling me once about the funny old story of Sidd Finch, greatest pitching prospect ever.

This afternoon I wandered over to the SPCA, just to check out the doggies. Aw, poor little doggies, they were all so cute. There was one that I think might have been a beagle, and it was so excited to see people that it was shaking. Aw, I wanna doggie. I also ventured into the cat room where I was greeted with the world's loudest and fiercest meows ever. This was one serious cat, yo.

Anyway, probably a bad idea overall, because now I want all the widdle doggies I can't have.

I had a productive phone call with Jeff, meaning I have a Biostats project all lined up, and maybe another paper if all goes well and the analysis works out. I also got an email from Rajiv today about some cool internships at CDC, which I have to check out. This requires me to actually make a CV, which should be loads of fun.

Watch the Triplets of Belleville tonight, which was wacky and cool.